March Madness: Ranking the Final Four starters from 1 to 20

The player pool at this year’s NCAA tournament Final Four reflects that there’s more than one way to build a title contender.

Duke targeted top-tier freshmen and then filled in holes around them by plucking veteran role players from the portal. Houston has won by developing under-the-radar recruits and transfers with multiple years of remaining eligibility. Auburn and Florida both landed their star players out of the portal and built around them with a mix of transfers and home-grown players.

Those varying approaches helped that quartet of teams separate themselves over the course of the regular season and back that up during the first two weeks of the NCAA tournament. Now the four No. 1 seeds will meet in the Final Four for the first time since 2008 and only the second time in NCAA tournament history.

The Final Four tips off Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET in San Antonio with SEC regular-season champ Auburn taking on SEC tournament champ Florida. Then the nightcap pits Duke’s No. 1 ranked offense against Houston’s No. 1 ranked defense. Here’s an attempt to rank the starters on all four teams from 1 to 20:

Who will cut down the nets at the Final Four in San Antonio? (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)

Flagg is the antidote to the commonly held belief that small-town Maine can’t produce big-time basketball prospects. He was hailed as the best freshman to enter college basketball since Zion Williamson. Then he solidified himself as the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft over the course of one of the all-time great one-and-done seasons.

Already known as a versatile defender, a willing passer and an opportunistic scorer, Flagg has leveled up at Duke as a perimeter shooter and a shot creator. The presumptive national player of the year leads Duke in every major statistical category and in some that can’t be measured by a box score.

Morehead State was one of only three Division I schools to offer Johni Broome in high school, and as Eagles head coach Jonathan Mattox recently told Yahoo Sports, “If anybody tells you they envisioned what Johni would become, they’re lying.” The 6-foot-10 big man worked tirelessly to transform himself from a redshirt candidate as a Morehead State freshman into a first-team All-American at Auburn four-plus years later.

The warrior spirit of Broome was on display during a 25-point, 14-rebound masterpiece in the Elite Eight against Michigan State. He scored his team’s first three baskets when the Spartans made the mistake of not sending a double team when he touched the ball in the low post. Then he shook off second-half injuries to his left knee and right elbow to return to the game and help finish off the victory.

He’s the most feared clutch scorer in college basketball, the lethal shooter you can’t give a sliver of space in the final minutes of a tight game.

Ask UConn.

Or Texas Tech.

The second-best Duke freshman would be the centerpiece almost anywhere else. Knueppel is a gifted scorer who is just as comfortable hunting catch-and-shoot 3-pointers as he is using a pick and roll to make plays off the bounce for himself and others. At a sturdy 6-foot-7, Knueppel is not the quickest, as he readily admits. But the projected lottery pick makes up for that by taking advantage of angles on offense and with his competitiveness and knack for consistently being in the right spot defensively.

He was at the end of the bench for Baylor’s 2021 national championship run. Now Cryer will play a leading role as Houston tries to win Kelvin Sampson his first national title. On a Houston team where everyone else does the dirty work, Cryer’s job is to make the Cougars’ offense go. How the 6-1 senior shoots against Duke’s unmatched length and how he fares defensively when Duke’s bigger guards and wings attack him could be the biggest key to Saturday’s second national semifinal.

Here’s a stat, courtesy of the NCAA’s David Worlock, that doubles as a sign of the increased player movement in college basketball’s modern era. Before this year, Bob Bender (Indiana ’76/Duke ’78) and Steve Krafcisin (North Carolina ’77/Iowa ’80) were the only players to play in two Final Fours for two separate schools. This year, Martin (FAU), LJ Cryer (Baylor) and Mason Gillis (Purdue) have each reached the Final Four with a second school.

A huge part of Uzan’s decision to transfer from Oklahoma last spring was the Sooners missing the NCAA tournament. Uzan didn’t want to have to sit home another year while friends on other teams were competing on college basketball’s biggest stage. Now at Houston, having stepped into the starting spot vacated by the great Jamal Shead, Uzan has blossomed as a playmaker and a scoring threat. The 6-4 junior point guard averaged more than 14 points per game since Houston’s last loss on February 1.

Maluach grew up in Uganda after his family fled war-ravaged South Sudan when he was a child. The closest basketball court was nearly an hour walk from Maluach’s home, so he didn’t pick up the sport until age 13 and was still learning how to play when he received an invitation to join the NBA Academy in Senegal a year later. Maluach has since learned to use his mobility and 7-foot-6 wingspan to his advantage. He’s still extremely raw as a low-post scorer, but he anchors an elite Duke defense while also gobbling up rebounds and showing some shooting and rim-running upside.

The transfer from Belmont was Todd Golden’s first recruit after becoming Florida’s head coach. Now Richard is one of the mainstays of a backcourt that might be college basketball’s best this season. “Being the first one here, I know what the coaches are expecting,” Richard said earlier in Florida’s NCAA tournament run. “Me and Coach Golden came in with the same mentality, trying to bring Florida back to national relevance.”

It’s safe to assume that Condon is the first former water polo goalkeeper and Australian Rules Football ruckman ever to make a Final Four. The Aussie only started playing basketball as a 16-year-old, making his rapid development into an all-SEC caliber big man an encouraging sign for his longterm upside. There are flashes when he looks like he could be NBA-ready as soon as this year’s draft. There’s also the occasional moment like this one where it looks like he is still new to the sport too.

Roberts is a throwback from a bygone era, the rare college basketball player who stayed at the same school for five years. Over that time he has transformed himself from redshirt freshman, to bit player, to starter and key player on both ends of the floor. What Roberts lacks in prototypical size for a big man he makes up for with his motor, toughness and surprising feel for the game. He’s an excellent passer from the elbow or the low post.

Why does Auburn not have a second player higher on this list? Because the Tigers’ second-best player is their sixth man Tahaad Pettiford, a small but speedy point guard with a knack for hitting clutch shots at big moments. That’s not to take anything away from Jones, who has assumed more of the scoring load recently with Chad Baker-Mazara not looking fully healthy. Jones can score off the bounce, create for others or shoot from deep. He was also a member of the SEC’s all-defensive team and will get first crack at limiting Clayton on Saturday.

The Big 12 defensive player of the year is maybe college basketball’s most versatile defender. Standing 6-foot-8 with a ridiculous 7-foot-6 wingspan, the nimble, long-armed Tugler can close out on a 3-point shooter and recover to alter a shot at the rim. Staying out of foul trouble is an issue for Tugler, as is knocking down shots or finishing layups. But when he’s on the floor, he’s the most disruptive player on Houston’s top-ranked defense.

A year ago, when Auburn lost to 13th-seeded Yale in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Baker-Mazara didn’t even get to finish the game. His family came all the way from the Dominican Republic, only to see him commit a flagrant 2 foul and get ejected during the first half. Baker-Mazara is still a fiery, passionate player this season — but he has done a better job reining himself in. If anything, Auburn needs to turn Baker-Mazara loose in San Antonio because he has only hit double figures once in his past seven games.

One year after infamously going 0-for-9 from the field in a deflating Elite Eight loss to NC State, Proctor has redeemed himself and then some. He had 17 points in Duke’s Elite Eight demolition of Alabama on Saturday. In four NCAA tournament games, he is 16-for-25 from behind the arc. What Quinn Cook was to the freshman-laden 2015 Duke title team, Proctor is to this year’s Blue Devils. He’s providing shooting, ball handling, defense and, above all else, veteran leadership.

The best decision that Kelly could have made last season was leaving a Georgia Tech program that counted on him as a primary scorer to come play a complementary role at Auburn. The 6-6 Kelly has produced his most efficient season, shooting a career-best 38.1% from behind the arc while also effectively attacking closeouts and advantage situations.

What was more impressive than Sharp’s 16 points in the Elite Eight against Tennessee or his dagger 3-pointers as the Vols were trying to mount a last-gasp comeback? How about Sharp’s display of concentration conducting a postgame interview with CBS’ Evan Washburn even as his Houston teammates piled hats and towels atop his head?

Jon Scheyer went into the transfer portal last spring hoping to handpick complementary players who could fit alongside Cooper Flagg and Duke’s other talented incoming freshmen. The needle that Scheyer had to thread wasn’t easy. He needed veteran players who were good enough to contribute at Duke yet egoless enough to cede the spotlight to freshmen. Enter James, a grad transfer from Tulane who has fit in seamlessly. The do-it-all James defends, plays hard, handles the ball capably and knocks down open threes.

If Auburn goes on to win the national title, the fiery team meeting that Cardwell led between the first and second round of the NCAA tournament will be part of the Tigers’ story. Auburn’s emotional leader challenged his teammates to match his effort and his fight after the Tigers dropped three of four to end the regular season and then sleepwalked through a first-round NCAA tournament victory over 16th-seeded Alabama State.

Chinyelu is Florida’s best rim protector, but it will be interesting to see how much the Nigerian defensive specialist plays Saturday against Auburn. Six-foot-9 forward Thomas Haugh was the best player on the floor for stretches against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight. His ability to space the floor and drag Johni Broome or Dylan Cardwell away from the rim could be valuable for Florida. Expect Haugh to play starter minutes off the bench at power forward with Condon often sliding over to center.

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March Madness: Ranking the Final Four starters from 1 to 20

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